Microsoft is trying to patent their way out of the jam they're in

Microsoft is suffering from serious competition these days, and I have long argued that Microsoft needs to abandon its dominatrix attitude toward the market and adapt to customers' needs in order to succeed.

Well, Bill Gates seems to believe that the answer to the challenge is to acquire as many patents as they can, and then sue their competitors away from them. I hope any patents that Microsoft is asking for that are not for technologies purely created by Microsoft and truly at risk of being stolen are denied. For if Microsoft succeeds in gaining all of the patents it wants, it will be gaining a further unfair advantage over the market it currently dominates- the market that is trying desperately to compete with Microsoft by competition.